Clans separated by division of nations to get video links soon, visits later

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SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea agreed Friday to resume reunions of families split across their border for more than 50 years, during their first high-level talks since Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test.

Reunions over a video link between the Koreas will be held this month, with face-to-face meetings set for May, a South Korean official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing talks.

The meeting in Pyongyang between the two Koreas is the first such Cabinet-level dialogue in seven months, enabled by the North's Feb. 13 pledge at international arms talks to take steps toward abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

The reunions are a highly emotional issue between the North and South as many of those hoping to see relatives are elderly and running out of time. Millions of Koreans were separated following the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945 and the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North had been expected to agree this week to restarting the reunions, which were put on hold last year after the North's July missile tests that led the South to halt humanitarian aid to Pyongyang, such as rice and fertilizer.

But the key sticking point at this week's talks remained Pyongyang's demand for an immediate resumption of aid, which negotiators were still arguing about on the last day of meetings Friday. South Korea instead wants to tie the aid to the North's progress on dismantling its nuclear program.